Easter weekend we took a cheap train to the south of Italy where our first stop landed us in Napoli. When we exited the train station it was a shocking site - garbage everywhere with people picking through the piles only to sell what they had picked next to the pile on their blanket. These people were rarely Italian, it was mostly immigrant populations from Africa. It was a devastatingly ironic moment to see: a western nation with thousands, if not millions, of non western peoples suffering. Our "liberated" western world is not one of complete equality of opportunity, political and social rights. When I traveled to Thailand I was shocked at the scene but almost everyone was suffering together. Walking through Napoli, I passed a women and her child begging on the left and a woman with a Gucci bag and expensive watch on the right. It's a dichotomy that I've never been able to swallow despite being told over and over again: its life, life is unfair, you can't save everyone, its better than it could be.
On a brighter note, we found the best pizza in the entire world. If anyone has ever read Eat Pray Love, she travels to Napoli in search of this legendary pizza and when we asked some people at the train station we got the same recommendation. The wait for a table was easily an hour and a half but we got our pizza's to go and ate it outside this tiny whole in the wall. When you walk in, there is an ancient man sitting at the cash register and asks you what type and what size. There are only two options: margarita or pomodoro. I ordered the normal sized margarita for 4 euros which just proves that these people love pizza; they haven't raised their prices in response to their extreme popularity. We got to watch it being made and even got a picture with the cooks because Italian men love American women. We have all started to say we are from California because no one knows where Oregon is.
What makes this pizza the best pizza you will EVER
eat is its sauce and its crust: the sauce is so fresh and so simple it takes as though a tomato was squeezed with its pulp over the pizza a second before you put in your mouth. There are a few chunks of fresh mozzarella and a little salt, but mostly just fresh fresh fresh tomatoes. The pizza is only put in the brick oven for 4 minutes so the crust is still doughy in the center. It soaks up the charcoaled brick flavor but the dough itself is one of the most delicious I have ever had in my life, much less on a pizza.
After Napoli we hoped on a smaller train to get to Sorrento, easily one of the most beautiful places in Italy. We had booked a campsite hostel to stay in so we checked in and settled down to have a beer because if you have ever ridden a crowded train in Italy (filled with B.O., creepy stares and attempts at pick pockets) then you know, you need a beer after it. I had a friend from home who is also abroad meet me in Sorrento and we all settled in for the night.
The next morning we had a singular goal of getting to Capri and that we did. Our tour guide around the island was this little old man, with wrinkled leathery skin, a lot of knowledge and interesting stories.
We were able to see a Phoenician lookout fort and houses of people ranging from Mussolini to Ferrari.
After saying our goodbyes to our tiny old guide, we hiked to the top of Capri to get a breathtaking view. That night we ended our Sorrento visit with a delicious dinner on the side of the bay and some gelato.
Easter was the next day and being in the most Catholic country in the world - traveling was difficult. My friend from home and I wanted to go to Pompeii so we separated from the others in the group and did just that. Almost every where I've been in Italy has been beautiful but Pompeii may be my favorite so far. The town itself is pretty and when you enter the ruins it is a strange feeling. It was amazing to be in the middle of such history...literally. We somehow found ourselves in the midst of ruins you are not allowed to be in and had to throw our huge backpacking back packs over the DO NOT ENTER sign and climb through. Needless to say, responsible tourists were looking at us quite strangely.
It is here that the struggle fest to get back to Siena begins. We missed the last train to Napoli and through broken Italian/Spanish/English found another train station to take. The train to Napoli arrived and we relaxed into the ride, happy we had found an alternative route.
Yet a few stops in my friend (thankfully) realized we were alas going in the opposite direction of Napoli. We got off at the next stop - ironically named Angri, Italy. It is here that we met Fred from Albania who was our saving grace. We caught the next train to Napoli after getting to know him and his friend for an hour at Angri's abandoned train station. Fred helped us get off at the right stop in Napoli and make it to our next train to Roma. Traveling in Italy isn't easy, you usually have to take at least 5 trains to get anywhere. We ended up running to almost every form of transportation on this weekend because somehow we were always late.
Long story short, we made it to Siena that night and even met our friends on the last leg of the train there. I showed him the glory and beauty that is banana gelato and for the rest of the weekend I showed him Firenze and Siena.
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The whole trip made me realize that:
1. Italy is beautiful, even in the dirtyest parts. In Napoli where trash and the Mafia reign supreme you can find the best pizza in the world made by some of the happiest cooks; getting lost in the middle-of-no-where Angri, Italy means that you make a friend with Fred: an unassuming, helpful and genuine Albanian.
2. Despite being in love with Italy, nothing beats home even if it comes in the form of a human being. I couldn't have asked for better girls on this trip but having someone here with a shared past that you can catch up with, well I'd trade banana gelato for a week for that.
Or maybe a day.
Glad to see you're having a blast!
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